Evening Star Newspaper, February 22, 1931, Page 26

i SLOVAKIA NOW CENTER OF POLITICAL INTRIGUE Unhappy in Union "~ tory Becomes a . Central ___(Continued From Third Page) there has burst into life a new Alsace- Lorraine of which the outside world knows very little. Further complications are caused by the presence among the 3,000,000 in- habitants of Slovakia of a large number af Magyars. Depending on whether the CTaechs or the Hungarians do the count- Sy the census figures of the Magyar minority vary between 750,000 and 1000000 ‘They are a purely Magyar sHck and they wish nothing so ardently as to rejoin their co-nationals. They fill the ears of Budapest with the stories of their woes. Theirs is an additional problem which the gratification of Slo- vakian aspirations could not solve. ‘The estrangement on the part of Slo- vakia became more articulate when it was discovered that her religious views ‘were opposed to those of Bohemia and Moravia, the two western sections of the republic. The Slovaks are devoted to the Roman Catholic Church and in their lives the village priest plays a leading role. The Czechs, on the other hand, during the three centuries that they were under the heels of the Haps- burgs came to identify the Roman Church with the House of Austria, which proudly bore the title of “defenders of the true faith.” Cazech indep2ndence therefore entailed efforts to emancipate themselves from a religious allegiance which, they maintained, had been forced upon them by the zealous Vienna court. The Czech National Church came into being, officlally, in 1920, and one year later it had more than half a million adherents. The new church shows much resemblance to the high church branch of the Episcopal creed. Growth of Atheism. Patriotic feeling thus came to be Identified with anti-Catholicism, which was reinforced by a strong movement of atheism. In the years following the establishment of the republic the num- ber of those who disclaimed all connec- tion with organized religion rose to un-| precedented heights. Such exhibition of anti-Roman sentiment did not tend to endear the Czechs to the devout Slovaks. Another cause of disaffection was the different spiritual character and men- ity of two most important parts of the republic. Bohemia is a pre- dominantly industrial country. while Slovakia is agricultural emia’s type of civilization is urban, Slovakia's is rural. The Czech village has all the mechanical comforts of the machine civilization. The Slovak village has all the picturesque inconvenience and filth of the pre-machine culture. Her roads are narrow and are not so much means of transportation as inexhaustible sup- plies of sand in fair weather, and of mud after a rain. Its inhabitants cling to the tallow candle and the wooden plow. Their ramshackle houses are overcrowded and wooden, t0o, and their insanitary condition may be responsible for the ravages of tuberculosis. Bohemia is rich in fertile land, min- eral resources and water power. Slo- vakia is poor in everything, except mountain scenery. The average Slovak is a shepherd, woodchopper or tinker, and he lives on a monotonous daily fare of potatoes and.coarse bread. Bohemian Is Educated. ‘The Bohemian is educated—illiteracy 18 practically unknown among them ‘The Slovak, except for the city popula: tion, often lacks the most elementary education. In Bohemia public opinion crystallizes quickly and with remark: able . In Slovakia public opinion follows the line of least resist- ance and is mostly compounded of superstition and prejudices. Briefly, the Czechs, or Bohemians, as they were called under the old e, stand near the summit of contemporary civiliza- tion, while the Slo ‘The prevailing conditions in Slovakia are not the fault of the Czechs, who are doing their best to remedy them. ‘They are the outcome of centuries of oppression to which the Slovaks had been subjected by their Hungarian rs. Although the Hungarian law of natlonalities provided for the use of the Slovakian language in the schools, in the administration at court, that ill-starred law merely served the purpose of camouflaging Slovakia’s real El.lgm before an inquisitive world. A ndful of Magyar county officials, in league with 'a handful of aristocrats, whose feudal ideas were out of place even among the ranges of the Carpa- thians, have perpetuated a system of thralldom from the consequences of which the country still suffers. vaks stand near the | .. With Czechs, Terri- Storm Center in Europe. question could easily be answered b having a few experts analyze the simi- larity of the languages involved in the controversy. It seems, however, that in this part of Europe even grammar is closely allied with politics, which is attested .by the fact that the Czech scholars who applied their brains to the problem concluded that the Slovak lan- guage is Czech, and the Slovak scholars discovered that the Slovak language is Slovak. 3 ‘The matter has now been taken up by the Czechs and the Hungarians as a political foot ball. Prague maintains that the Slovaks not only understand but love Czech, while Budapest argues that the Slovaks not only do not un- derstand Czech but hate it. A neutral foreigner would suggest that, now that the experts have failed to settle the dispute, a literate average Slovak should be given a Czéch text and be made to read it to an investigating ‘commission. Unfortunately, the problem is not quite so easy of solution, as history has complicated it. Under the Hungarian regime it was a common saying that “At tot nem ember,” which means that the Slovak is not human. This abom- inable view was enforced by with- holding from the Slovaks the most ele- mentary human rights, such as school- ing In their own language. Many young men, as a gesture of protest, at- tended the Czech University at Prague. The result is that there has been no chance given for a literary Slovak lan- guage to evolve. Lingual Chaos Result. Czech had made some little headway as the literary language when the Bible was translated into Czech and found its way into Slovakia. Until the middle of the last century whatever native litera- ture there might have been in Slovakia was in Szech and in its Slovakized variant. With the awakening of the national consciousness cof the Slovaks they made feeble attempts to replace Czech with their own dialects. In the | resulting chaos all shades of the two languages were used in the pulpit and in the printing press, and today scholars and laymen alike ar:c speculatin What is the language of Slovakia? If the Slovaks joined the Czechs of | their own free accord and if the Czechs |lived up to all their obligations toward their new countrymen the charges leveled against them would seem up- | justified. But did the Slovaks join of |their own free will and did the Czechs | fulfill their pledges? In the case of Czechoslovakia, Rous-| |seau’s theory that the state gowes its |existence to a social contMct has {proved to be literally true. The con- ract was sigited in 1918 by Thomas G. Masaryk. on the one hand, representing he Czechs, and by the representatives | of the Slovak League, on the other, and it is known as the Pittsburgh Con- vention. This document is the birth certificate of the Czechoslovak state. Charge Promises Broken. It is now asserted by those Slovaks |who want autonomy and by the Hun- garians that Slovakia was stampeded |into accepting the Pittsburgh Conven- tion by the so-called “classists,” young men who received their education in Prague, and by a group of pro-Czech politicians. They also contend that the letter and spirit of the convention have not beer. carried out. In this connec- tion the disgruntled Slovaks have found opportunity to air their grievances. Most of Slovaks say that the Czechs have not given their country the self-administration, their own Dist and their own law courts provided for in the Pittsburgh wgreement. ‘The | | Czechs say that every promise has been fulfilled. Dispassionate neutral opinion leans more toward the Slovak auton- |omists. Slovakia, outside observers | ay, is governed in all essential ques- tions from Prague and by the Crechs. The so-called Slovak Diet in Bratislava |is & shadow parliament, maintained at | much expense to keep up the semblance | of power Slovakia can wield in her own |right. The Pittsburgh Convention pro- |vided for the exclusive use of the | Slovakian language in schools, in the eadministration and before the law. In reality, both Czech and Slovakian are official languages, with the result that |the former will gradually displace the | 1atter. Populist Party Active. | Of the 16 political parties which gov- |ern Czechoslovakia, several are in oppo- |sition to the present regime and favor | complete autonomy for Slovakia. The | best known and most aggressive politi- S |they had hoped that Spanish reform cal group is the Slovak Populist party, Poltical Graft Rampant. The Crzechs—not their leaders, but subordinate officials—have taken antage of the existing conditions, and now the Slovakians eomplain that they have been reduced to the position of colonials and that their country has be come the happy hunting ground of ad- venturers and unscrupulous politicians bent on their aggrandizement and un- mindful of their obligations. The Slovakian cities are exceptions from the general backwardness of the country. Bratislava, whose Hungarian name was_Pozsony; Koshice (Kassa), Preshov (Eperjes), Kazmarok (Kezs- mark) offer the best civilization has produced. They were originally settled by Germans, and it was only in the course of centuries that -the ruling Magyars transformed them in their own imege. In the sixteenth and severteenth centuries, when the Tui kish inroads disorganized Hunga trade. these cities were outside the zone of Ottoman invasion, and became the beneficiaries of an unexpected stimulus to their business. Tre impetus to whatever public opinion may have taken shape in Slovakia came mostly scent of the Slovaks tor of the Slovakian problem. The Czechs say that the Slovaks are Czechs. Most of the Slovaks say that the Slo- vaks are Slovaks. The discussion is of more than academic interest, because which is under the leadership of Father | Hlinka. At present the party is in un- qualified opposition to the centralizing tendencies of Prague. Father Hlinka, its leader, has been persecuted under the Magyar rule s5 a rabid Slovak, and he has been molested under the existing regime for the same reason. Another group of opposition is the Christian Social Hungarian party, under the lead- |ership of Herr Szuelle. That both par- ties have taken firm root among the Roman Catholic population is signifi |cant of religious conditions in Czecho- slovakia. ‘The irredentist activities of the Hun- garian minority in Slovakia has brought |to a head the dispute which is venting its fury in the trade war. It is a strange irony of fate that the Hun- garians should repeat the same charges i |against the Czechs which the Czechs heaped upon them before the war. The Magyars complain that they agg not given representation in the govcrnment, that their rights to the use of their lan- guage are flouted and that the land reform was undertaken in Czechoslo- vakia to the detriment of the Hungarian land owners, as a measure of political ngeance. They complain of discrimi- nation in cultural matters, such as that their actors are withheld the permission 10 appear on the stage on the flimsiest of pretexts, that Hungarian newspapers and many Hungarian books are barred. | Flood of Propaganda. Czechoslovakia is flooded with Hun- if the Slovaks are Czechs, then they garlan propaganda, which is working have no right to complain about their with the most up-to-date methods. present plight and their place is in & “Radio Budapest” has regular propa- unified Czecnoslovak state. %flnda hours on the air, which “Radio rague” seeks to neutralize by putting Origin of Kingdom. . |on the air Czech propaganda during the The Czech version of the Slovaks' same hours and by using a more power- gntllofl' is that in the seventh century ful transmitting station so as to drown e Czech chieftain S8amo defeated the out the voice of Budapest. Avars and Franks and established & | The most violent fury of the Hun- kingdom which included the Slovaks. garians is directed not so much against ‘This was the origin of the Great Mo- |the treatment accorded to the minorities ravian Empire which extende< {rom the |in Slovakia, which, they must admit Spree in Prussia to Bulgaria. In the was much worse during their regime, reign of Svatopluk, Duke of Moravia, \but to the incorporation of those torr his enemy, Arnulf, Duke of Panonia, |tories into the Czech republic uch; called in the Magyars to help him. The not even the boldest stretching of the Magyars obtained control of what is imagination can be seen as inhabited today Slovakia. | by Slovaks or Czechs. These sections, ‘Those of the Slovaks who do not ac- as a matter of fact, are inhabited by cept the official version of their origin | compact masses of Magyars whose an- point out that they are a different |cestors have lived for hundreds of years branch of the Slavic family, not re- |at the foot of the Carpathian Moun- lated to the Crechs, and standing | tains, on the strip of land usually desig- closest to the southern Slavs. Accord- ynated as the Little Hungarian Plain- ing to this theory, their original name |land, and in the urban centers. It is was Croatian, | for the sake of restoration of these ter- Since the Magyars invaded Slovakia | ritories to Hungary that Viscount Roth- under the leadership of Chieftain ermere has started in England his pro- Arpad toward the end of the first mil- | Hungarian campaign. jennium of the present era, tre Slovaks | The Magyars contend that their fron- have been uninterruptedly connected tier toward Czechoslovakia was delim- with the Hungarians for nearly 1,000 ited at a time wh-n the hatred engen- years. Their only se-ius effort to dered by the war made any attempt at Wrench themss'wes free from the Mag- an impartial survey of the question 5 was in 1848, when they par- |quite impossible. The first delimitation : THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, Europe’s Caldron Boils D. C, FEBRUARY 22, 1931—PART TWO. e ———— e, e, ‘MANY THINGS DONE FOR U. S. BY HOOVER President Is Symbol of Great Transition That Nation Now Is L LA Outcome of Political Trends in Various Countries Will Depend ont Events in England and France. BY EDGAR ANSEL MOWRER. HE relapse of Spain into a royal dictatorship is an undoubted disappointment to most Euro- pean democrats, who were awaiting something like @ rebirth to popular government. For would mark the turning point in the apostasy from _popular government which began in Europe close after the armistice and last’d at least until the German elections last September. But the cabinet of Admiral Juan Bautista Aznar seems to be only the old dictatorship in new form and “cynical Alfonso” scores & new triumph, at least for the time being. > European Tendencies. The tendency toward dictatorship or some form of Fascism in Europe is of two types, The first affects those newly created, recreated or backward states like Lithuania, Poland, Bulgaria, Jugo- slavia and Hungary where illiteracy is high. Here there was absolutely no civic or intellectual preparation for popular government and it is no wonder that th: parliamentary institutions so hopefully installed began immediately to decay and Pascism replaced what might in the light of subsequent events be called the prematurely supprossed autocracy. i Moreover, internally and externally, all these countries are, or belleve tl selves to be, subject to great danger. It seems to them only natural against the threatened dictatorship of Moscow or reabsorption by & hated forelgn state to oppose a dictatorship of their own. This argument extends, to some extent, to highly developed countries like Ger- many and Austria. THe second group of states where dictatorial ideas are present or growing begins with Italy, includes Austria and Germany and at least touches Czecho- ovakia and Great Britain. Here the chief arguments consist in pointing to whet is called the inefficiency of democracy in dealing with economic problems. Under war-time conditions or a crisis, dictatorship seems the abler method and democracy is traditionally identified with a shrinkage of govern- ment powers or what is called weak government. Habits of dealing violently Wit war-time problems are still re- membered and patience seems to be a constantly diminishing quality. Trritation Is Aroused. The contemporary economic crisis particularly arouses frritation with democratic methods. All classes of the poswlation accept economic betterment As an inherent right, but demand a per- sonal scapegoat in the case of dimin- ished prosperity. This seems particularly the case in Great Britain, where the people seem to be lcoking for a painless exit from & latent economic crisis which has lasted almost since the armistice. Voices are rising steadily among fairly responsible Englishmen predicting that it will be impossible to solve the complicated problem of empire tariffs, unemploy- ment and shrinking exports without a “temporary dictatorship or directorate.” Even in Prance a few such groups aré apparent and perhaps growing, but they are mostly limited to the private lead- ership of persons like Georges Valois, who first organized a French white- shirt Fascism, but now seems to have abandoned it for a form of near-Com- munism, or Pierre Taittinger, owner of the newspaper La Liberte, or the perennial monarchists the Camelots du Rio. ~ o Taken in detail, the chief examples of European Fascism are the following: ‘Turkey is still controlled b; the typically Fascist Mustapha ‘emal , under whom European reforms have been carried out. Recently signs of bitter opposition have been apparent, but the cpposition is no more demo- cratic than Kemal Pasha himself. ‘The Bulgarian_cabinet seems to be only slightly Fascist and Fascist tendencies are kept awake only by the agitation of irredentist Macedonians which no Bulgarian cabinet can ignore and live. Jugoslavia enjoys a virtual dictator- ship under King Alexander and a mili- tary clique. The initial object was to prevent the suppressed Croats from something lik> secession and today the rigor of the rule seems to be diminishing. Hungary has a virtual dictatorship of Regent Horthy and Premier Bethlen. Recently under the influence of Adolf Hitkr's success in the last German election, new Fascist organizations are growing in Hungary. Czechoslovakia possessss a small Fascist party apparently military in character and small in influence. Autocratically Governed. Poland, ruled “temporarily” by the former Soclalist Marshal Joseph Pilsud- ski, shar's wtih Italy the honor of being the most autocratically governed state in Europe. Poland, like Italy, is gov- erned by & single party and practically by a single man, who does not hesitate to carry out his political programs by | illegal violence. ~ Unquestionably the | recent acts of terrorism have provoked | a reaction in a considerable section of | educated Poland, but the masses have no comprehension of democratic ideals | and methods. ' The bad financial policies and eco- | nomic penury of both Germany and Austria have greatly increased dislike of democratic methods. Some years ago German Fascism seemed to be a weak refleotion of the Austrian Helmwehr, but the Heimwehr seemed to decay while the Hitlerites grew and today it is Austrian Facism that receives support from German centers and it is expected that the Heimwehr without the Christian So- cialists will become a kind of Austrian branch of the German National So- clalist party. Depend on Economic Trend. ‘The chances for the party in both countries seem to depend largely on the world economic trend. In Germany the result of the Fascist menace and Chan- cellor Heinrich Bruening’s stiff opposi- tion has been & new concentration of German democracy, This democracy, which seemed last Autumn ready to submit without & struggle, is now de- flant and seems almost ready to take the offensive. Even a portion of con- servative German Nationalists have an- nounced a preference for parliamentary methods against the “gang rule” of the Hitlerites. ‘The general picture is complicated and the outcome will be enormously influenced by the ultimate choice of the two states which still very largely set the tone ®f Europe-France and Great Britain. It seems certain that the Fascist movement, even if ultimately unsuc- cessful, will in democratic states have led to a strengthened executive. On the other side, the failure of dictatorial government like those of Italy and Po- land to manage financial matters with any nitable competence tends to create a growing mass of liberal opposition in those two countries. ‘The one apparent certainty is that coming developments in Europe will not lack incident. alleged slight on their state in Czecho- slovakian territory, and the following day the Hungarians would retaliatz by arresting a Czech for alleged espionage. The recent trial of Dr. Bela Tuka, Slo- vakian autonomist leader, grew out of allegations of espionage and led to his being sentenced to a stretch in prison. | It must be said in all fairness lhl(; most of the catastrophic blunders ln‘ Slovakia were perpetrated by subordi- | te officials who acted in accordance with the wishes of the great masses of,| their countrymen. The Czechs have no | conception of the seriousness of the| Slovak situation and they cannot grasp Slovak mentality. It is & tragic situ- ation that so many of the leading Czechs have a clear conception of the dangers ahead and yet they are power- | less in the face of the tremendous mass | opposition of their unenlightened countrymen. Masaryk Seeks Peace. President Masaryk—to take the most striking example—has done everything that is humanly possible to redeem the | pledges he made on behalf of the Czechs | regarding the treatment of the Slovaks, | of whom he considers himself one, and | the national minorities. He has set his | face with great determination against | Jingoistic excesses, but he was soon | given to understand that even the | power of a president as highly respected and beloved as he is cannot be of any avail against the crushing effect of chauvinistic propaganda It was only the other day that President Masaryk gave expression to Czechoslovakia's willingness to consider a revision of the Hungarian frontier, adding that all such changes were ma ters for parliament to decide. The president meant this statement as a trjal balloon. The reaction was prompt and left no one in doubt. The Czech chauvinists immediately declared ruth- less war on their president, and one of them, Senator Dyk, recommended that in the future all statements by the president should be countersigned by the premier before publication. This would be tantamount to censoring the president's words. The premier hastened to repudiate Prof. Masaryk by desig- nating all hopes of rectification of the Hungarian frontiers as baseless and out of the question. Masses Seem Doomed. That the Slovakian problem has not assumed even more alarming propor- tions is due to political conditions in Hungary, where a dictatorship has been in power for the last 10 years. Under its rule the landed magnates have pros- pered and the land proletariat has been marching to its doom. Even the Magyars of Czechoslovakia, except the most_extreme jingoes, would be deterred by the prospect of coming under the heels of the military-aristocratic rule of Budapest. The Slovakian problem will develop | its real strength and will cause no end | of new complications as soon as the | present regime in Hungary is replaced by a democratic government which, | through its liberal land and taxation policy, will continue to exert the fasci- | nation on Slovakia it has exerted for a thousand years. Yet, the ultimate aim | of Slovakians with a highly developed | natural consciousness is to live in an | autonomous state, which may be con- nected with Bohemia on a federal basis | and in which they will be the masters of their own destinies. | =% /arsaw Plaque Honors Dr. P. F. Eve, American T | A commemorative plaque was put up recently in Warsaw to the memory of Dr. Paul Fitzsimmons Eve, an Ameri- can who took part in the Polish insur- rection of 1830 against Russia. The cen- tenary of the insurrection, which was | at first successful and was only crushed | in 1831, will be celebrated in Poland throughout the year. The first celebra- tions were held during the anniversary of the capture of the Belvedere, the former palace of the Russian govern- ors, which is now the home of Marshal Pilsudski. Cadets paraded in the uni- forms of 1830 and plays dealing with the insurrection were performed in the theaters. Cork'City Prepares For $2,000,000 Outlay | Cork City, through its new corpora- tion, is providing for the expenditure within the next few years of over $2,.- 000,000 on improvements. The most important of these is a new city hall. At present Cork has none; its old hall was burned out by British troops during “the troubles.” The new one now pro- jected will cost $600,000. Tre city got compensation for its loss, but decided to spend the money on working-class houses for which there was, when the country was able to settle down, an ur- | gent demand. The corporation, pend- | ing the erection of & new home, meets | in the School of Art. Three hundred | thousand dollars is to be spent on a | new School of Commerce. Another im- | provement contemplated is the clear- | ance of the slums in the northwest area | of the city. Vertical or Lateral? | From the Sioux City Journal A Paris fashion hint says stripes will | be the vogue this Spring. but we’ll all f-el terribly nervous about it until we r {“u,md in the uprising of the nation- |of the boundary line did in effect tako slities to frustrate the attempt of the place in February, 1918, by Marshal Hungarian: to emancipate themselves Foch, Gen. Weygand and Dr. Benes, from Vienna and the Austrian rule. none of whom could be said to be ani- Another hotly contested int is | mated by impartial motives. whether the language of the Slovaks is | The question of frontiers has led from Czech or Slovak. To those who are not | time to time Ll privy to the squabbles of eastern cen- |trials of high treason. One day the A Ewope i mught secem thst this | Cagchs would srrest s Hungarian for an know which way they are to go. —_— at————— A Bitter Inheritance. Prom thg Philadeiphis Evening Bulletin. It must be depressing to the child born with a silver spoon in its mouth 1o note present quotations of the metal. | friendship, the State Department issued | IN LATIN By GASTON NERVAL. TWO FRIENDLY MOVES. WICE within a week the United States has_taken steps to gain the good will of the Latin Amer- icans. A few days ago, before the Council on Foreign Rela- tions, Secretary Btimson delivered an address explaining the policies of the State Department toward Latin Amer ica, in which he endeavored to remove suspicions still existing among the neighboring young republics to the south. To this end he used two chief argu- ments. He justified the policy as to recognition of .new governments in Latin America, which has several times been put to & test during the last 12 months, and he gave an interpretation of the Monroe Doctrine entirely favor- able to the Latin American and one certainly different from that which, by misrepresentation, has been predomi- nant down on the other side of the Rio | Grande. . Only a few days after Secretary Stim- | son's address had been broadcast and | cabled throughout the continent con- veying a message of good will and | | a communique announcing that the Ma- rines will be withdrawn from Nicaragua beginning next June, the last Marine is expected to be back | in the United States. | This announcement, following so | closely the friendly words of Secretary | Stimson, bears unusual significance. | The Nicaraguan situation has for some time been the sore spot of inter-Ameri- |can relations. Whenever diplomatic | phrases of friendship and good will have | been expressed by representatives of Uncle Sam the latter were reminded | by dertain Latin Americans of the pres- |ence of several hundred “bluejackets” |in the little Central American republic. BIDDING FOR GOOD WILL. Since President Hoover was inaugu- rated, in 1929, a favorable change was expected in the policies of the United | States toward her Latin Amerjcan sis- ters. This change was clearly forecast by the President-elect’s unofficial tour of South America, which was termed by the press of the continent the “stepping stone” to a new Pan-Ameri- can understanding. has shown its interest in promoting better relations with the Latin Ameri- can governments by sending down as Ambassadors and Ministers the best qualified men in, and outside, the dip- lomatic service; by doing its best to increase mutual trade and economic links; by helping the development of cultural interchange, and by emph: ing. in general, the value of inter-Amer- | | fcan re’ationships. Under these circumstances, the two | latest moves of the State Department should surprise novody. It 50 happens, | however, that they come at a time when the big' European powers are engeged in & strenuous race for the conquest of the Latin American markets, and this adds to the materlal importance of such steps. . That commercial ties and moral sym- pathies are closely connected is only natural in this economically and finan- cially controlled age of ours. Political principles are no longer the determin- |ing factor in international relations. They are more or less a consequence | of economic laws and conditions. Eu- Topean statesmen have so understood onditions, and. appreciating the value f that immense market which extends | from the Rio Grande to the Straits of Magelian, they are out to win the good will of the Latin Americans and the | commercial benefits that go with it. | Great Britain's chief salesman is at present touring the Southern republlc.'.‘ selling Britain’s friendship and British goods. He will inaugurate next month in Buenos Aires a huge Empire Trade Exhibition, which is expected to give back to the island empire its lost com- mercial leadership the Western Hemisphere. Only a few weeks ago Ttaly sent 10 of her planes acroks the Atlantic in the | first long-distance flight of its kind, ying down to the Brazilian shores Mussolini’s plans for Italian commer- cial expansion cloaked in the smoke of their engines. Signor Mussolini stated shat the flight would show South Amer- icans “the proficiency of Italian enter- prise and the power of Italian indus- trial develgpment.” Germany and France also have lately sent missions of good will across the ocean and have increased the num ber of their commercial agents in the other Americas. LATIN AMERICAN APPLAUSI Whether the latest attitude of the State Department will have a bearing on the commercial relations of Uncle Sam and the Latin American nations— and most likely it will—its political consequences can already be ascertained from the editorial comments of leading Latih American newspapers, which the cables have transmitted from thousands of miles away. As for Secretary Stimson's declar: tions, they have been recelved with widespread applaus>, although they gave opportunity for certain skeptical commentators to emphasize once more the necessity of complementing them with actual facts. Actions speak louder than words, said these, although they, too, admitted that the statements of ‘Secretary Stimson were in them- selves a considerable advance over the indifferent and closed-to-criticism at- titude of yesterday. Even Argentine papers, which have always been the severest critics of American policies jn the contlasut, did AMERICA not fail to recognize in Secretary Stim son’'s address a friendly move, one which showed a great regard for the sover- elgnity of the Latin American nations, and a far better understanding of their political conditions. The announcement made by Secretary | Stimson that the United States had | reverted to its traditional policy of | recognition of de facto governments, as opposed to the so-called Wilson theory- which more or less implied the State Department’s passing upon _internal | problems of the Latin Ameriean countries—has been met with, particular rejoicing in the editorial columns of | Latin American newspapers. | Although_this reversion to the Jef- | fersonian policy was already known, | for during the last few months it ha ‘ several times been put into practice, | the official 'statements of Secretary Stimson to the effect that any govern- | ment which is the expression of popular | will—even if born of revolution—and | are a wonderful instrument in cement- ing the basis of international good will, but they become the more powerful and the more efficacious when actual facts come to their support, lending them the prestige of reality. (Copyright, 1931 — E | Dlll)]i;l ioi W!;IC;)!;IC Eucharistic Congress Colleges, convents and other institu- tions, besides boarding houses, will be thrown open to receive and accommo- date visitors to the Dublin Eucharistic Congress in 1932, which promise rival Chicago’s in 1926, it was made known recently. There also will be well equipped encampments for men on suitable sites near the city. Even all this will not suffice for all who are ex- pected to arrive, and the suburbs, and even towns within 100 miles of the cap- ital,"are joining in making the visitors omfortable. Transport facilities are excellent. ~Already, 18 months in vance, it is possible to be assured that no visitor will be left unsheltered or unfed and, at reasonable price, all will be provided for. The expenses of the organization, amounting to about $500,- which is able to assure internal order | and protection to foreign lives and property will be recognized by the fidence in the full success of all the ar- By 1932, after | | the presidential elections of that year, | Later on the Hoover administration United States, was bound to evoke, | necessarily, enthusiastic applause in the | [angements is encouraged by the fact Americas of Latin origin. The “threat” of non-recognition of revolutionary governments advised by President Wilson had been the cause of much fll-!e_[gkl,i'rm among * th:.t uu: Americas. v contended that such | 5 revolution, was tantamount to & denial | reauyi"as' %% Tooked seat in'a theas ter. | for the Centenary of Catholic Emanci- | pation in the Phoenix Park. On that occasion over 400,000 people assembled of self-government. The more o, since revolution is often the only means left |in Latin America to replace a dictatory and personalistic rule NOT FOR 1931. The other part of Secretary Stim- son's address, that referring to the Monroe Doctrine, has aroused some criticism, although this is more the re- | A strange theory, according to which sult of .misinterpretation of this doc- |the famous “Song of the Nibelungs” is trine by the Latin Americans. Nearly partly a symbolic description of metal- ever since was promulgate e | Monroe Doctrine has been feared by |JrEical, processes, has just been pub. the Spanish-speaking peoples of this | Ludwig Antz. While Herr Anta does not hemisphere as a means devised by the | deny that some of the personalities and | United states to extend its political pit¥ CA8C SRS OF the PErsQiiLties Ahd | influence over the continent. Instead |forieal background. his thesis is that of a protection they have looked upon | the Toct of the Nibelungs sed old fairs it as a menace. Thus, since the very beginning, there has been an underlying | ‘aier &nd myths merely as a garment. lack of understanding of the Monroe | Coctrine, to which certain attitudes | potmmn: 1t 1o My caoaons. o his and gestures of American statesmen—|metals have been mined in the territory it is only fair to admit this—have con- | Around the Gity of Werts, T |tributed’ on several occasions. After | fho "Niterunge Tor oo 5 deat of all, the doctrine has been just as much | ik | misunderstood and misinterpreted by | Yragon ,f‘;fi;’;’am':d e Metallurgical Secrets In “Song of Nibelungs” v | that the organizers are the same men | {who, in 1929, organized the celcbrations | for an open-air high mass in the park, | Experiencing. (Continued From First Page.) boiled down to this: The Democratic leaders do not really think Mr. Hoover a bad man: they do not really believe he is & poor President; they do very much want 1o elect a President of their own, and would fecl the same way if Mr. Hoover had all the virtues of all the best administrators of history. The story of what Mr. Hoover has done and has tried to do is the story of a transition which it is quite beyond the power of any one, Congress or pub- lic, to halt. The trend in American government is from more or less pure politics to more or less pure business. Aids Shift to Business. As, for obvious reasons, the extreme is Inaccessible, at lcast in our time, events and not men are working toward a compromise, Hoover is the agent seated by fate In the President's chair to begin the development of this now formula. It is too much to accomp! in one term; it may be too much fo even the most energetic and tirel President to achieve in two terms. date is the story of a man who is both tireless and energetic and is striving to transition. Quite naturally, politics either fails to understand it or, understanding. re- sents it, as the positive implications of the process include a distinct lessening of prerogative dredged from waters less clear and free from pollution than those of efficient public service. In scanning the actual record of President Hoover's administration, it is |idle to ignore the fact that his inc: pacity to assimilate essily the politica rules, and his own inevitable inward rages against those rules and the cor ditions they govern, have curtailed tl effectiveness of some of his best proj- ects. The bitter conflict with the legislatiye arm of the Government has been hif loss, and a big one. The con- test of authority between White House and Senate exists and, under the Con- stitution, must exist, experience sug- gests the condition is not without. its values. Mr. Hoover's bursts of forthrightness, however, are not always the calculated stroke of a planned attack, to be met in the same manner; they are often the explosion of a mood. He says what is in his mind, sincerely but without that canny choice of means and mo- ment instinctive with the trained po- to | litical mind. Unadroit But Aggressive. Yet, with all that lack of adroitness, the direct, aggressive Hoover is the true man. Hoover's mind works fast and clear; he can master a sita- ation and set it before himself with a simplicity that is beautiful. But he is a man who loves to gather in ideas, relishes talking with any one, every one, who can discuss the business of the day, and, too often, his original idea is washed in so many conversational waters that when he hangs it out to dry most of its celor has faded, and often the very shape and substance is distorted, if not ruined. The real Hoover showed himself | promptly enough when the 1929 de- pression set in. As for the depression and subsequent unemployed it is difficult to find an; where more prompt and direct prosi- dential action, or action so thoroughly | comprehending the probiem. Not only did Mr. Hoover, in Washington, push forward great construction work, but he @rove home the lesson to States and city everywhere, which the consequen: that, as the depression passes away, communities will find themselves en- riched by public enterprises which never again could be carried through with such economy, or at a time when tie distribution of the great sums expen meant so much to those who produce or work the materials. Scarcely less important, and wholly characteristic of Mr. Hoove’s kind of mind, wes the understanding he brought about with employers that wage levels would not be disturbed, and with labor the crisis. As early as June, 1929, Mr. Hoover had initiated a study of planning and control of public works construction | with reference to business and employ- ment conditions. Acted in Stock Crash. ‘The study was carried out by the report, of which became available last | June. the story of Hoover's administration to ! meet the perceptible demands of the | that there would be no strikes during | National Bureau of Economic Research | and the Department of Commerce, the | for funds for construction of additional hospitals and for a new veterans' act by which all disabled veterans. whose disability affected their earning power | would receive allowances from the Gov- ernment. Revamped Power Board. | | With the co-operation of Congress the President obtained the highly im- portant and far-reaching authority to | reorganize the Federal Power Com- mission and the Federal Radio Commis- | sion. | In nis passion for effective machinery |in governnient the President has struck heavily at the traffic in Federal ap- pointments in the South. n fact, s determination to raise the standard of the personnel in public service is & {most fmportant item in Mr. Hoover's term of oflice. even with the limitations imposed by politics. He has attracted strong men nqt only into high offices | but into relatively minor positions, and the publication of names of indorsers of men recommended for judicial appoint- ments and the publication of all tax ttlements are mot only aceurate ox- pressions of Mr. Hoover's public policy but wholly in line with American prin- ciple. 1t the so-called “flexible” Smoot- Hawley tariff act remains a matter of jealous contention, it is, when all is said, also absolutely a party measure, and it did include important power to the President for reorganization of the | Tariff Commission. It was partnered in the special session by the President's plan for a Federal Farm Board, which is functioning, and thg development of co-operative marketi which, if it languishes now, is always a long-time prozram on which the Rupnblican party may realize a decade hence. A striking demonstration of Mr. Hoo- ver's business mind is his redirection jof funds into useful channesls without | substantial additions to the budget. A | typical move was his determination to take the Government out of the steam- ship operating business, and at the |same time stimulate the expansion by | private concerns of the American mer- | chant marine. By a quite inconsider- |able bait of a few million dollars for mail contracts he obtained agreements for the construction by private com- | panies of approximately a half million tons of new merchant ships. Acts on Public Lands. Many of the administration’s acts pass | unnoticed by millions who seem to be not directly concerned, and in the hustle !nl political conflict become lost or for- |gotten. Yet there is a measurable im- | portance in -the committee established to survey and redetermine the land and conservation policies eof the Far West and an incalculable advantage to the | Nation in Mr. Hoover's definite refusal | to issue further permits for oil drilling |on public lands, as well as instituting & scrupulous scrutiny of existing permits. | Nor can it be overlooked that the activity in highway construction and | the tremendous impetus given to water- | way development belongs constructively | to the expanding nceds of the Nation. | These were problems into which he |could throw unhesitatingly the deter- mining direction of an engineer. The reorganization of the engineering staff working on the great Mississippl River system and the intrusting of the direc- tion to a single responsible engineer is the Hoover method and a clear example of how' he thinks the Government should be handled. That constitutional provisions dictate a balanced authority and so delay the hands of a President }v:ho believes in swift, centraliz:d direc~ |tion is a fact justified by historical ex- | perience. But that does not bring solace | to the heart of a Hoover, whose working and waking hours areé more or less iden- lticl who knows quite well what he would do if left alone, and who has been accustomed most of his working | Ife to translating uncriticized judgment into action s swiftly as possible. The heart of the actual Mississippl | River development program is the posi. tive abandonment of wasteful develop- | ment of unrelated sections. and the 'gradual extension upward and outward of channels alre in us>, until the 2,000-mile barge system is completed. Studies Social Problems. _ With all these material preoccupa= tions, Mr. Hoover's vision was broad enough to embrace, with fact-finding commissions, such vital social problems as child health and protection, social trends in education, home ownership and prison reforms, some of which have been put into efect, together with & new parole and probation system based on the princiole of rehabilitation and But as soon as the dimensions of the | Manual training for prisoners. But the | plished for them, this country. | It is because of this misconception of | the Monroe Doctrine that the Latin | Americans do not miss an_opportunity | to oppose it and advocate its abandon- | ment by the United States. \Comment- ing on Secretar” Stimson's references to the Doctrine, they declared that, even admitting the good it has accom- its usefulness has ended, and that it is no longer appli- cable to present-day relations between the United States and the Latin American republics. The Monroe Doctrine, they contend, as directed against the Holy Alliance, as Secretary Stimson himself empha- | sized in the course of his speech, and President Monroe and the United | States deserve all the more praise, | they add, because it did not possess the material power to_enforce it when it as_announced. Today, however, all the European courts against which the Doctrine wes directed have long since ceased to exist, and that formula of 1823, so the Latin-Americans argue, | cannot be adjusted to fit into the life of 1931. R WORDS AND FACTS. Satisfactory as they were, the dec- larations of Secretary Stimson would not have been complete without a defi- nite action of the State Department in accordance with and in support of them. So, at least, the leading Latin papers contended, stressing once again their preference for actual facts. And then came the announcement | from Secretary Stimson's office that by | next June the withdrawal of United | States Marines will begin, and that by | the latter part of 1932, right after the | elections of that year, not a single | “bluejacket” will remain on Nicaraguan sofl. What>ver else he may have failed to achieve with his address on the Latin | American policies of the White House Secretary Stimson certainly accom- plished something with this announce- ment of the evacuation of Nicaragua, Editorial praise has come from every corner of the continent, and Latin American statesmen rejoice in acknowl- edging the sincerily of thé Secretar: | fulfilled by his action in | the State D-partment. No matter how much of it is due to misinterpretation, the presence of United States Marines in Nicaragua has been for some time the chief argument of critics of Uncle Sam on the other side of the Rio Grande. The best diplo- matic gestures, the most friendly atti- tudes of this country toward its Latin American neighbors have been ham- | pered by this unfortunate state of af- fairs, unavoidable as it may have been. It is hard to describe, in so limited a space as this, the benefits which inter- | American relations will derive from this latest announcement of the State De- partment calling the Marines back | home. The more so when such an an- | nouncement, comes on the heels of Sec- retary Stimson’s friendly words express- ing the good will of the United States toward her Latin American sisters and | people and by Government officials in | terpretation of mining. Brunhilde, who lived in Brittany (not in Iceland), is described as the queen of tin, and Sieg- fried conquers her for Gunther, the king of copper. Gunther (copper) marries Brunhilde (tin) and the re- sult is bronze. Alberich, the dwarf, is 2 miner who reveals the secret of min- ing to Siegfried. New Zealand fiuymg Avocados of Hawaii ‘Hawali has found an unexpected mar- ket for avocados, or alligator pears, in New Zealand. A few small trial ship- ments have proved so successful that large consignments will be shipped when the Spring and Summer crop comes on. The Winter crop in Hawaii is small and In such demand that little remains for expoert. This luscious prod- uet of the islands is barred from Cali- fornia because of the presence in Hawail of the Mediterranean fruit fly and the fear that this pest might be transferred to California fruits. How- ever, few of the alligator pears grown here are infested with the fly, and in recent years producers have been able to develop several varieties whose skin is so tough that it is impervious to the fly. This circumstance, with the steady advance being made in the Fed- eral Government's campaign against the pest itself, gives hope that the Cali- fornia and other Pacific Coast mar- kets will be open to island producers within a few years. Canada Provt;s i‘and Of “Gold and Honey™ Rudyard Kipling dubbe “Our Lady of the Snows, should have called it the and Honey. Last year no less than 1928308 ounces of gold, valued at $39,861,663, were produced in the Do- minion, along with 30,978,735 pounds of honey. Therefore, it will be seen that Canada produced more gold than honey. Ontario produced the bulk of the gold, there having been 1,622,267 ounces and this all came from the Forcupine and Kirkland Lake areas. ——e Person Able to Judge Time While Asleep A person can judge the lapse of time when asleep. Dr. C. N. Brush of the University of Maine reports the results of experiments on himself in the latest issue of the American Journal of Psychology. When he went to bed he would set a definite time for waking. “Wake me at x o'clock,” he would repeat ten times. He varled the time of rising to rule out the effects of habit. “The 1 time of waking,” he reports, “was far closer to the time Canada caacicd G DAL o Saa e e stock market collapse late in 1929 be- came clearly defined, the President bezan to organize the country for pur- poses of economig defense. From No- vember 18 to December 2 there were almost daily moves to that end, of which some of the more significant ing them to speed up construction: his business executives and with heads of labor organizations: his conference, another two days later, with leaders in construction industries: his letter the dsy following, November 24, to Gover- nors asking co-operation from them and other State and local officials in sup- port of the program for expediting public works construction. division of public construction in the { Department of Commerce, and by De- cember 5 the sum of all this activity was ready for consideration at a meet- ing of the National Business Survey Conference, which included more than 400 leaders in all lines of industry. This, obviously, was leadership of large vision and capacity. and the working of a prompt and informed mind. It is very doubtful whether a purely political viewpoint could have = mastered so swiftly the elements of the situation and organized them into effective and practical programs, for there is not an ounce of theory in the whole story the President gathered, sorted and exhibited facts, and then showed quickly how to bufld on them. Among the results was A 38 per cent increase in public works and utilities construction contracts during the first half of 1930, as com- pared with the preceding vear, and the execution of the largest peace-time program of public works and public utility construction throughout 1930 and now continuing. Has R-organization Plan. 1 of past ex- sions and not the least significant proof of the transition to be identified with the Hoover administration. Even for a time it seemed that the crisis might provide Mr. Hoover with the opportunity to carry out his cher- ished program for reorganization of the whole executive business of the Govern- ment. He drew up & comprehensive plan for administrative and executive reforms which had the defect of ignor- ing important political considerations. ‘Therefore, he has not been able to accomplish the business organization h planned, Congress, collectively and in- dividually, having loosened a few rungs and removed othe: efficiency the P climb, riheles accomplished someth#ng. He has pushedhis methods here and there into corner$of the di partments. He succeeded in'getting a consalidation of all veteran ities, bringing the Veterans' Burdl the Pension Bureau and the Nationaldome for Disabled Veterans under thelcen- direction of a new indepefigent agency of veterans' affairs. sident started so . maved were the President’s letter to heads of | Federal departments November 18, ask- | conference two days later with leading | Then came the establishment of the | on that ladder of | |outstanding social question of Mr. | Hoover's time remains in more vex- atious form than ever. When Mr. Hoover entered the White House he looked askance at the prohibition riddle |and wished it off his back, not wholly for the pohtical conflict involved, but also because the prohibition question | has an insatiable appeti‘c for attention and voraclously devours more :-ni energy than any other issue ar sk. President Hoover accepted the matter |as it stood. and determined to try as much enforcement as possible. No one vet has been able to determine how much enforcement prohibition can ab- sorb or how much the public will tolerate. Champions Dry Law. But Mr. Hoover, to the consternation of his friends, and, as it seems, in an uneasy moment of politica] speculation, has reusserted an emphatic dry stand and will go before the public, if he 1s a candidate for renomination, as the champion of prohibition. | Yet his distinguished commission on law enforcement and prohibition has labored haid enough in the vineyards, even if the public finds the grapes a trifie small and sour. In the case of prohibition Mr. Hoover was able to demonstrate what every one knew, that {there is profound disagreement about but he did not feel sufficiently con- fident of himself to propose any solu- tion other than a further assertion of | further enforcement. As far as the White House is con- | cerned, prohibition has nothing to com- | plain_about for Mr. Hoover has dealt faithfully about it. He removed the Prohibition Enforcement Bureau from the Treasury to the Deparument of Justice, and he has consistently strengthened by moral force the efforts of the bureau to fulfill its desperate functions. His prohibition pesition is | his own, and may be considered experi- { mental politics on his part, a little ter of his own in the gaming room where elections are won and lost. | There is nothing uncertain or equiv- ocal about Mr. Hoover’s attitude in world affairs. There he is quite posi- tive that the reconciliation of nations is the only basis of international pros- perity, and has given such positive groof of his authority to express that hopeful program in deeds that there are those who wonder why he does not go further and assume a leadership which at the moment is vacant and seems to be | waiting for the United States to fill. Invokes Kellogg Pact. ‘The London Naval Treaty, as far as it went, expressed his beliefs and, inci- dentally, saves the people of the United Sta!erhnn al expenditures amounting to approNimately a billion dollars. When he invoked the Kellogg Pact at the time war threatened between China and the Russian Soviet, no criticism could undo the force of the gesture which signified that the United States took the pact seriously and expecied others to do the same. ‘The settlement of the Tacna-Arics